Of
the many performers to leap into films from the springboard
of the television sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live,
Bill Murray has been among the most successful and unpredictable,
forging an idiosyncratic career allowing him to stretch from
low-brow slapstick farce to intelligent adult drama. Born
in Wilmette, IL, on September 21, 1950, Murray was an incorrigible
child, kicked out of both the Boy Scouts and Little League.
At the age of 20, he was also arrested for attempting to smuggle
close to nine pounds of marijuana through nearby O'Hare Airport.
In an attempt to find direction in his life, he joined his
older brother, Brian Doyle-Murray, in the cast of Chicago's
Second City improvisational comedy troupe. He later relocated
to New York City, joining radio's National Lampoon Hour. Both
Murray siblings were also in a 1975 off-Broadway spin-off,
also dubbed The National Lampoon Hour; there Murray was spotted
by sportscaster Howard Cosell, who recruited him for the cast
of his ABC variety program, titled Saturday Night Live With
Howard Cosell.